26/08/2007
NEWS STORY
Toro Rosso team boss Gerhard Berger has revealed that he was approached by Ralf Schumacher as the German considers his options for 2008.
Currently Schumacher doesn't have a seat for next season and his performance in yesterday's qualifying session is hardly likely to have helped matters. With few seats available, the German apparently approached Toro Rosso, which has now acquired the services of three-time Champ Car Champion Sebastien Bourdais, in addition to Sebastian Vettel.
Yes, Ralf came to us," Berger told reporters yesterday. "We spoke with him. But in the discussion it was very clear that his priority is Toyota and our priority was the line-up that we have now.
"If something had gone wrong in our priorities, there was room to discuss further," he added. "That's all that happened. We had no closer discussions."
Schumacher has six wins to his credit, all scored with Williams. A poor start to the season resulted in speculation that the German could be dropped mid-season but then came a string of decent performances that appeared to assure his drive for the remainder of the year.
Speaking on Friday, Toyota boss John Howett said that Schumacher was still on the team's "list".
"He's doing a very good job at the moment, as we've seen in the last two or three races and we're just not prepared at this moment to make a decision which is very tough and I have a great deal of personal sympathy with Ralf but that's the position," said Howett. "We're waiting to see what moves and I can assure you that Ralf is on our list. We feel that we can wait longer."
That was before yesterday's dismal performance which saw the German fail to make it through to the second phase of the qualifying session.